Peppermint Sticks
by Hagaren Eeyore
Summary: Raito and L are up late researching together. Alone. The fangirls rejoice. Shounen ai, RaitoxL. Since I wrote it, it must contain some angst, yes? Fluff too though.


a/n before fic writingness:

I. Do. Not. Know. What. Possessed. Me. To. Try. And. Write. A. Death. Note. Fanfic.

I don't mean Death Note is bad, heck no. I mean it requires a lot of complicated thinking. I don't have the mind of a detective _at all._ I can never figure out how they come up with the stuff, but it's freakin awesome.

So that's why this will only be a RaitoxL oneshot. I'll try my best to keep them in character, but it might be hard because I'm not intelligent enough. TT Besides, making it RaitoxL in the first place will probably make it not very in character, seeing as they're bitter rivals. But I like the pairing. X.x It'll take place at some point when Raito is working with the investigation team after he's forfeited ownership of the death note and is chained to L, and they're in that big ol' building place. And it'll be a L-offers-Raito-candy fic. Yay for un-originality! –party-

Um, also, if you have read the Prologue: Sorrow and/or Shadow of Repentance, you may notice that I switch the POV around constantly and any thinking done is just written normally. Well, I kept doing that to be consistent, but for this thinking will be in italics. As for POV, it'll just be third person...and be from Raito's POV. Okay? Okay.

Disclaimer: L IS MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM! –runs off with him- Okay, well, he doesn't really, he belongs to...uh...them peoples. That aren't me. Same with Raito. –sigh-

Here goes nothing!

* * *

a/n, post-fic writingness: 

I planned on this being a fluffy happy-ish fic, and of course, that means it turned out as...angst. Of course. Seems angst is all I can write. Nothing bad about that, I just happen to like funny fics and happy fics as well. X.x

So far I've only read up to some time after Near and Mello are introduced, and they go through the whole thing with Raito's sister and stuff and Mello has the death note. So if anything weird and freaky happens that makes some of this fic inaccurate to the manga... consider it AU. .

Alright, read on...

* * *

_Damn him, he's staring at me again._

Yagami Raito tried his best not to fidget under Ryuuzaki's wide-eyed gaze and instead focus all his attention on the computer monitor in front of him. Despite his efforts he shifted slightly every now and then, and his finger paused constantly above the keyboard, small spaces of silence broken only by the faint whirring of machines and Misa's light breathing as she slept, amplified by expertly placed microphones.

_Does he think I don't notice? No, he should know that I could easily see him in the corner of my eye..._

For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Raito turned his head abruptly to try and catch L staring at him, and also for the hundredth time, within the millisecond it took for his eyes to focus on him, his head was already turned back towards his compute screen, his nose half an inch from the screen due to his irregular way of sitting.

He managed to somewhat stifle an aggravated sigh as he turned back to the glowing screen and stretched his stiff arms. A quiet rattling followed this, reminding him of the chain attaching him to the famous detective. He grimaced and lowered his arms a bit too quickly; he could clearly see Ryuuzaki's eyes flick in his direction.

_What does he want? Does he think I'm going to do something that will identify me as Kira?_

He clenched his teeth.

_Why can't he accept that I'm not Kira? I don't understand... I'm definitely not Kira. I _know _I'm not. I mean, I would remember if I did something like that..._

Ryuuzaki was watching him rather intently now. _What, does clenching my teeth make me more likely of being Kira? How about stretching? And breathing? I'm sure Kira and I are so alike, seeing as we both breathe._

His thoughts were dripping with sarcasm. He froze, his finger hovering just above the a key.

_What am I thinking? I know that wasn't a serious thought, but comparing myself to Kira so bluntly? Why am I so irked anyway? Does L's staring really bother me that much?_

He glanced at L, and watched him dumbly without turning his head, as he now gnawed on the end of a long peppermint stick while continuing to gaze at Raito with his unsettling eyes.

_Does he torture me intentionally, or am I just unlucky? First all this staring, and now eating my favorite sweet..._

Of course, no one knew it was his favorite sweet. He tended to give the impression of a serious well-behaved genius student, not a sugar loving fool.

He bit his lip lightly; he could almost taste melting sugar in his mouth as he watched L delicately nibble the end of the stick, the red and white stripes deliciously vivid against his soft pale lips...

Raito blink quite a few times and directed his eyes back towards the monitor, a bit disturbed at where his last train of thought was going. Scratch that, a lot disturbed. He was about to shake his head and proclaim himself too tired to continue, but was interrupted by the first noise he heard from Ryuuzaki all night.

"Do you like peppermint sticks, Yagami-kun?"

The sound of L speaking his name caused an ecstatic flutter in his stomach, which he promptly ignored. He turned entirely around in his swivel chair to face L. This time L didn't look away from him, rather, stared directly into his eyes. Ratio's stomach did a cartwheel.

_What the hell is going on? Am I sick? I wouldn't be surprised, sitting in front of a computer all night for three nights in a row can do that to a man. _

He ignored the fact that he had only actually stayed up late on the computer for one night.

"...Yes. It's been quite a while since I have had anything with sugar in it."

"Would you like some?"

His mind was suddenly pushed into an explosion of thoughts, _Would accepting make me more of a suspect of being Kira? Does he know I like those candies? Is this a trap? What if I don't accept? What is his name? Should I do the eye deal? He needs to die as soon as possible. Just a little longer, and I can finish this._

Raito's breathing sped and he could feel sweat running down his forehead. He didn't even think upon the other alien thoughts in his head, the only one he focused on was the last. _Die? I think he needs to die? Where did these thoughts come from? Am I... really Kira, subconsciously?_

L's head quirked slightly, and his eyes reverted to their half-closed position.

"Yagami-kun?"

"...I...suppose."

He became absorbed in his own thoughts for a moment, and didn't realize that the other man had walked up to him until he was standing right over him, his back hunched in his normal bad posture. He had a peppermint stick protruding from his mouth. Raito blinked up at him.

"What is it, Ryuuzaki?"

A gentle pressure in his mouth, and a flush of sugar flavor filled his tongue. He had a peppermint stick in his mouth. The other end of it was in Ryuuzaki's.

Raito flinched backwards, a little less violently than he thought he should have, but L followed the movement as easily as a duckling follows its mother. He watched Raito silently, his face mere inches from Raito's, suckling on his end of the candy. His unfathomable gaze made Raito suddenly feel very exposed, but for a reason he couldn't grasp he didn't flinch away or remove the candy from his mouth.

_It's just the sugar... I haven't had sugar in a long time, that's all..._

After moment of hesitation, Raito broke his frozen state by chewing a bit on the candy, biting off a bit of the end.

As if on cue, L's mouth progressed a bit farther down the stick. Raito could swear there was a faint smile on the man's lips.

Raito continued to bite off bits of the peppermint stick, followed closely by L, until their noses were almost touching. He bit off half of the small piece remaining, expecting the game to end here and he could get an explanation, but he found he tasted more than sugar on his mouth. Strawberries.

Ryuuzaki's lips tasted of strawberries.

The kiss was soft, and his lips were cool and moist against his own. It only lasted a few moments, and when L pulled away he kept his face an inch away from Raito's.

Raito slowly closed his gaping mouth. A moment passed in silence, and he could have sworn he saw a worried look for a split second upon L's face, but he didn't have enough time to tell, for he had pressed his mouth fiercely upon Ryuuzaki's.

He kissed L with a deep passion, but he had to break away as choking sobs wracked his body, and he pressed his face against L's shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

A rare look of surprise crossed Ryuuzaki's face, and after a moment he gingerly wrapped his arms around Raito's frame. He placed a bony hand onto Raito's head and laced the hair through his fingers while resting his head lightly upon Raito's.

"There's no need to be upset, Raito-kun..."

He didn't know why he was breaking down like this, he only knew he felt a terrible sadness deep in his gut. For a long while they stayed like that, until Raito's cries finally died down and he fell asleep in Ryuuzaki's arms.

Not long after the Death Note once again fell into Raito's possession, and regaining his memorieshe carried out his plans, giving Rem no choice but to write L's name in his Death Note. As he held L in his final moments and smirked triumphantly, he planned to feign rage at his 'friend's' death and finalize the last evidence needed to convince the fools around him that he was not Kira. But as L's tight grip on his shoulder loosened and he closed his eyes for the last time, becoming limp in his arms, the anguish he felt was very real, and he cried out in true rage. He never figured out why he had felt such loss at his archenemy's death, but every now and then he would feel a painful twinge in his heart, and hear his own voice crying silently in his mind.

* * *

o.o 

Erm.

Well, that turned out differently than I expected.

Will there be no day or night that I can write a fanfiction devoid of angst?

...I suppose not.

X.x

I know, I know, bad ending. Endings are my one of my weak points in writing. Meh.

Well, at least that makes it slightly more original. I think?It's also suggesting that Raito has some sorta split personality, which I think is entirely possible.If this is extremely similar to someone else's fic, I swear it's coincidental. As I have said before, if you think it is too similar to a fic of yours, tell me and I will remove it.

Eh...review I suppose. No one has flamed me yet...I guess that's a good thing, but how long will it hold up? . -hides-

To any fans out there of me FMA fic...I'm at a bit of dead end for the plot. I'm trying write the next chapter, but it's very hard without some sort of a plot to go on. I'm really regretting writing about Roy slamming his head into the wall. It sounds reeaaally cheesy and doesn't seem a good enough reason for a man like Roy Mustang to go and smash his head into the bathroom wall. So...geh. not sure what to do about that. Worse comes to worse, I might start Shadow of Repentance over from scratch. We'll see...


End file.
